\'Live\' AtlasNova MCA Images
First I would like to point out that the below images were taken whilst carefully measuring the current in order to keep the amount of IR radiation form the pointer assembly to a minimum. I do not recommend anyone else try these experiments unless they are fully aware of the dangers involved.
I would also like to say sorry to Arnold for the disassembly of one of his pointers from AtlasNova - however there was no modifications here - just interested in the workings. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinser2.gif
I decided to chip away parts of the AtlasNova to take images of the MCA whilst power is being applied. (I was thinking the invisible IR would show up on the camera - which it did). The MCA is the part of a green pointer that actually does the converting from IR to green:
The pointer shown in these images did not breach 15-20mw so I feel less guilty about destroying it. But if I said that was my Phoenix below .../ubbthreads/images/graemlins/faint.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mpr.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
OK, here is the setup:
As I said above - the current was kept low - at about 100ma and was just enough for the MCA to convert to green - anything lower than this and only the IR was seen on the camera LCD. Anything higher than this though and the green glare was way too much for the camera. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif
Even though I had the MCA out of it's holder prior to these images it still did it's job with a small amount of alignment. There was also a green dot on the wall in front of the assembly.
I could not see the purple glare without the camera - this is a mixture of 808nm from the diode and 1064nm from the first crystal. I could possibly detect a small amount of red glow with the lights turned down but this was only when viewing the MCA indirectly.
I also took some images of the parts. The MCA standig on its own is from the AtlasNova (and IR images above) and the one in the holder now is from a different Leadlight. (I have no idea what the '74' stands for).
Notice the size difference of the AtlasNova MCA compared to the standard Leadlight one. That greater surface area is going to help a lot with alignment/efficiency/stability on the AtlasNovas. Yet another example of the better quality in these pointers... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif
Two Hi-res/uncompressed versions of the best two images are below. I don't think the resizing and JPEG compression for the forum did the images much good /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif:
MCA1
MCA2
First I would like to point out that the below images were taken whilst carefully measuring the current in order to keep the amount of IR radiation form the pointer assembly to a minimum. I do not recommend anyone else try these experiments unless they are fully aware of the dangers involved.
I would also like to say sorry to Arnold for the disassembly of one of his pointers from AtlasNova - however there was no modifications here - just interested in the workings. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinser2.gif
I decided to chip away parts of the AtlasNova to take images of the MCA whilst power is being applied. (I was thinking the invisible IR would show up on the camera - which it did). The MCA is the part of a green pointer that actually does the converting from IR to green:
The pointer shown in these images did not breach 15-20mw so I feel less guilty about destroying it. But if I said that was my Phoenix below .../ubbthreads/images/graemlins/faint.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mpr.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
OK, here is the setup:
As I said above - the current was kept low - at about 100ma and was just enough for the MCA to convert to green - anything lower than this and only the IR was seen on the camera LCD. Anything higher than this though and the green glare was way too much for the camera. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif
Even though I had the MCA out of it's holder prior to these images it still did it's job with a small amount of alignment. There was also a green dot on the wall in front of the assembly.
I could not see the purple glare without the camera - this is a mixture of 808nm from the diode and 1064nm from the first crystal. I could possibly detect a small amount of red glow with the lights turned down but this was only when viewing the MCA indirectly.
I also took some images of the parts. The MCA standig on its own is from the AtlasNova (and IR images above) and the one in the holder now is from a different Leadlight. (I have no idea what the '74' stands for).
Notice the size difference of the AtlasNova MCA compared to the standard Leadlight one. That greater surface area is going to help a lot with alignment/efficiency/stability on the AtlasNovas. Yet another example of the better quality in these pointers... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif
Two Hi-res/uncompressed versions of the best two images are below. I don't think the resizing and JPEG compression for the forum did the images much good /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif:
MCA1
MCA2
